In the genre of Christian Romance, we are told to keep our characters clothed and appropriate at all times. However, as I was listening to a sermon on Genesis, chapter two, last weekend, I started thinking about how important it is for our characters to be naked, based on verse twenty-five – “And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.” (NKJV)

Ok, before everyone faints from the shock or starts writing me emails, let me explain. True love only occurs when we are totally honest and totally vulnerable with each other.

[NOTE: This is the same blog entry as I posted on the ACFW Colorado website] A few days ago, I think it was on Facebook, I saw these words: "Writers are people who haven't given up their imaginary friends." (Jacob Nuckolls). All the characters in my mind started to laugh hysterically. “And you never will get rid of us,” they yelled. This started a string of memories and thoughts.

Below are continued thoughts from Chip macGregor’s presentation on From Wannabe to Published Author . In depth information on these notes can be found at Chip’s website.

I attended a continuing session with Chip MacGregor entitled From Wannabe to Published Author. Below are some of the highlights from that presentation. In depth information on these notes can be found on Chip’s website.

You can’t be in any group of writers for very long before they start suggesting books to read. Below are some of the books suggested to me during CCWC.

Thursday morning former lawyer and author James Scott Bell talked about whether we are writing for ourselves or for God. Below are some of the comments I enjoyed or by which I was touched.

There is nothing quite as physically and emotionally draining as writers’ conferences. At the same time, there is nothing quite as exhilarating. In my next few blogs I will be sharing some of the events of this year’s Colorado Christian Writers Conference.

Ten minute speeches. In just ten minutes how much can you tell someone about your book? While judging Original Oratory for the National Christian Forensics and Communications Association I got some great examples of a person can present a lot of material in a short period of time. In less than a month I will be at the Colorado Christian Writers Conference participating in fifteen minute meetings with publishers and agents. These students demonstrated how much information can be presented in few minutes. If any of the young speakers had said they had a non-fiction book, I would have purchased it.

Go expectant, but with no expectations. That was part of the advice given today at the Words for the Journey meeting as we prepared for upcoming writers conferences. I remember a time I didn’t take that advice when I attended the Colorado Christian Writers Conference.

Can you speak as well as write? In today’s market, we have to be prepared to market our books and part of that means we need to have speaking skills. I spent two days listening to young speakers. We can take a cue from these excellent speakers. Below are my thoughts regarding the speeches application to fiction writing.